Drowning Never Felt So Good
by P.Jay13
Summary: Vaughn has a fever, and is visiting "Dream Land". But what he doesn't know is that sometimes all it takes is a random dream about drowning to make things clear. For Naty17 and wipe-your-tear's "Rainbow Color Contest". Details inside. Errors are fixed!


**A/N: Hey, peoples! Welcome to my entry for wipe-your-tears and Naty17's contest, "Rainbow Colors"! That's right, I'm in my first contest! So, lemme just explain how this competiton is gonna work:**

**Seven people, including myself, were chosen to submit a oneshot based on one of the colors of the rainbow. These colors are Red, Yellow, Orange, Yellow, Green, Blue, and Black (it replaced Indigo since this is considered a shade of Blue). So, we all have to post our entry on the same day, and whoever gets the most reviews and bonus points by the deadline on December 3rd wins. Wish me and all the other competitors luck, guys! **

**So, the list of the contestants and their color are:**

**Red – Naty17**

**Orange – floridapanther28**

**Yellow – wipe-your-tears**

**Green – floopyrocks**

**Blue – Yours truly:)**

**Purple – MagicalSquaresofDarkness**

**Black – Lollipopdiego**

**So just kick back, make yourself comfortable, and read to your heart's content:) Oh, and make sure to check out their stories, too:) Enjoy!**

**Disclaimer: I'm just gonna put this out there as an after thought since I haven't been in doing this in my writing. Ready? Wait for it... I don't own Harvest Moon and never will, so tough noogies. Shocker, huh? Get it? Got it? Good:) **

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><p>Drowning<p>

A pair of red, worn out rubber boots paced back and forth in the house of the local animal shop. Deep, sapphire eyes, owned by none other than the resident rancher, Chelsea, were filled with nothing but worry and anxiety, which stared down at the wooden floor. Her chestnut colored hair flew loosely every time she made a sudden turn. The silence was eerie and deafening, as the two women accompanying her, shop owner Mirabelle and her daughter, Julia, didn't dare utter a word for fear of breaking down in tears. It seemed as though time couldn't go by any slower.

Finally, after what felt like hours or even days, a young, raven-haired doctor named Trent appeared from around the corner of the hallway. Chelsea, Mirabelle, and Julia practically pounced on him immediately.

"How is he?" they chorused, all equally high-strung.

Doctor Trent gave them reassuring smiles. "He'll be fine after a few days of resting. His collapse was only due to a high fever, mostly caused by stress and being a workaholic. He may be out for the rest of the day, but you can enter his room to see him if you like."

They took in everything he had said and hurried to Vaughn, the anti-social cowboy's, room. When they got to his side, they saw that he was sleeping, snuggled up under a blanket and had a freezing ice pack on his forehead. His face was flushed with red around his cheeks, looking like a tired tomato. His hat was placed on a nightstand by the bed, along with a glass of water and a couple of aspirins.

"Vaughn..." Chelsea breathed at the sight of him being so weak. She couldn't believe that Vaughn, her friend, got sick. He was usually so strong and acted like nothing could bring him down, and now a fever attacked him. The more she thought about it the more tears blurred her vision. The same went for Julia and Mirabelle, and it didn't help that they were actually his only family left.

The trio got chairs and took a seat at his side, thinking about what they would do when he got better and when he would open his beautiful, amethyst eyes.

* * *

><p><em>Vaughn<em> _was laying on his back on a pityful looking raft with his arms folded behind his head in relaxation. His raft was mostly several boards tied together with rope, floating on a vast ocean. He was wearing a black muscle shirt and shorts, rather than his normal black shirt, brown vest, white scarf, and cowboy boots. Naturally, he was still wearing his cowboy hat. _

_Vaughn was unusually calm and content as he stared up at the clear, blue sky. The waves tossed and turned him slowly, and Vaughn wasn't worried in the least about being thrown overboard. It was as if everything was right with the world. There were no crimes, sickness, or worry, and if there were, he was far away from any of it. He was just closing his eyes and giving a lopsided smile at nothing in particular as the warmth of the sun danced along his face._

_Suddenly, Vaughn could feel the sunlight vanish and cracked open his eyes. A huge, fluffy gray cloud loomed across the sky, blocking out most of the sun. Then, it got darker as a result of the cloud, putting a lid on Vaughn's good mood. Rain started to pour, and the waves got larger and threw the raft around violently. Vaughn clung to the sides, praying to the Goddess to stay afloat. Without any warning, a gigantic tidal wave, maybe 100 feet tall, appeared up from the ocean. Vaughn could only stare at it in terror as it advanced in his direction._

_Vaughn squeezed his eyes shut and within moments the wave engulfed him. Vaughn was thrown away from the raft and washed away, struggling to keep his head above the water. He knew it was hopeless to think his hat would remain on his head. Waves kept rushing over him, and he couldn't stop getting small mouthfuls of the salty liquid. Ultimately, a big wave tossed him under. He was only able to get a few seconds worth of air to hold his breath when he went under. _

_Vaughn opened his eyes, and the blue water was much more clear and easier to see under than the once sunny, cloudless sky. It was transparent and lightly fluorescent so Vaughn could just make out tiny organisms, like shrimp, and tiny fish. He wasn't sure how the ocean could be this clear underwater while the surface was pure chaos. Vaughn began swimming around, dubious of where to go. Eventually, he decided to surface for air and to scan his surroundings. As soon as his head broke the surface, he noticed that it was no longer pouring, just drizzling, and it had darkened immensely. He couldn't find his raft anywhere, and doubted that it'd still be in one piece. After looking around, he could faintly see the shoreline of an island; all he had to do was swim there._

_He took a deep breath and dove back under in the direction of the island. Surprisingly, the calmness hadn't disappeared once he went back under. He decided not to dwell on it and get back to civilization where he'd be safe again. All of a sudden a fiery, red jellyfish came up to him and gave him a little zap, not enough to injure him. Vaughn winced and glared at the jellyfish. Was it his imagination, or was the jellyfish laughing at him? He thought he could see eyes gleaming with amusement and mischievousness._

_Pinkish-red fish timidly swam over and seemed to be looking at the jellyfish with nervousness. It was like they were communicating. Vaughn almost thought he could see the jellyfish glaring at the fish. A pink starfish, the same color as the jellyfish, floated over. It turned in the direction of the jellyfish, and Vaughn had no doubt that it was talking to it. From the way the jellyfish rolled its eyes - Vaughn was sure of it now - it was acting like it was getting lectured. Like all starfish, it had no eyes, so Vaughn wasn't certain how it was reacting._

_An old tortoise with a balloon sized head swam over and glared angrily at the jellyfish. Once again, it just rolled its eyes and began to swim away. The turtle blew bubbles out of its nostrils in frustration and trailed after the jellyfish, followed by the starfish. The fish looked at Vaughn and sort of bowed as if apologizing and sauntered off. Vaughn blinked, not believing what he had just witnessed, and shook his head slightly._

_'I must be going crazy,' he thought logically, hen continued swimming with clean strokes. _

_After meters of more swimming and only having to surface for air three times, a beautiful, small yellow angel fish with red fins glided alongside him. Vaughn was mesmerized by how pretty it was. It nudged him playfully, and soon a small black bass swam up and circled him as well, accompanied by a bigger bass who Vaughn guessed was its parent. Then, Vaughn saw something out of the corner of his eye. He turned his head, and what he saw next made his heart leap up into his throat._

_Swimming right for him was maybe the most ugly, menacing mammoth angler fish_. _Vaughn started to do big, clumsy backpedals to high-tail it out of there, when the angel fish and both bass swam over toward it. _

_'These fish have gotta be out of there freakin' minds!' Vaughn thought worriedly. But when the angler fish just nudged the angel fish lovingly, he could've fainted on the spot._

_'What the...?' Vaughn trailed of in puzzlement as all of them swam away together._

_Surfacing for air once again, he continued swimming on his less than cheery way. He was making sure to stay close to the surface but he could still see a lot from below. For example, he could see a light purple octopus working away o prepare its meal, which Vaughn found extremely surprising. Who know an animal's antics could resemble the actions of a cooking chef?_

_Moments later, a lime green dolphin swam up to him, as well as a dark purple seal. The dolphin greeted him with a series of clicks and chirps, which actually sounded melodic and musical. The seal barked and did a series of merry front flips and turns. Then the seal held out a flipper, as if wanting Vaughn to slap him a high five. Vaughn smirked and conceded, making the seal nod happily in approval. A tiger shark came rather too close for Vaughn's liking but kept its distance. Vaughn could barely tell that the shark didn't see him as a major threat. _

_Unexpectedly, all the animals quickly turned and swam away. Vaughn swiftly turned around and almost gasped, which would've unfortunately caused him to inhale water. Advancing him was a swirling vortex of doom, otherwise known as a whirlpool. Vaughn could already feel the currents pulling him toward it as he began to struggle. With each long stroke of movement, he was brought a few feet closer. Finally exhaustion overwhelmed him and he stopped flailing and moving altogether. He was sucked into the eye of whirlpool, and all he could see was rushing blue water circling around him, that Vaughn then noted was ominous._

_Then he had no choice but to breathe in the water after holding his breath for so long. It entered his nose and mouth, and Vaughn ultimately began drowning. He always thought that the last thing he would see when he died was the ceiling of the room where his deathbed laid, or even the faces of those who were close to him, who turned out to be Julia, Mirabelle, and maybe even Denny... Oh yeah, and possibly Chelsea._

_An unwelcomed image of Chelsea flashed within his mind, making his heart wrench even more than it already was, if that was possible. Goddess, could she be annoying, Vaughn had concluded after first meeting her, but she could also be funny, sweet, and - yes, Vaughn had might as well admit it - cute. He didn't think that his life would end like this._

_'But, life sucks,' Vaughn remembered, closing his eyes and accepting his death. 'I would've thought that I had known that already.'_

* * *

><p>"Vaughn sure is sweating a lot," Chelsea voiced concernedly. "Should we wake him?"<p>

Julia gasped, glancing at Vaughn's fluttering eyelids. "No need," she whispered happily. "I think he already is!"

They bounded up from their chairs and hovered over the groaning cowboy.

"Hon, how do you feel?" Mirabelle asked, holding up a bowl of porridge she'd made while he was sleeping.

"Like crap," he mumbled, "but I'll live."

"Yay!" Chelsea squealed, wrapping him in a tight hug.

"'Y-Yay'?" Vaughn managed to choke out through his embarrassment and suffocation. "How exactly does feeling like crap call for a 'yay'?"

Chelsea released him and stared into his eyes seriously. "Because you're better than you were before; that's why."

Vaughn found himself unable to tear away from her eyes as her words echoed in his head. Her deep blue eyes resembled the whirlpool in his dream, and he wasn't sure if he was imagining the way her big blue orbs looked like there was clear, cerulean water surging around. His thoughts all seemed to all drown and melt away into those eyes of hers.

He smiled inwardly.

_I never thought it'd feel so good to drown, _he thought subconsciously, smirking invisibly.

* * *

><p><strong>AN: Okay, be honest; how many of you saw the connection between the islanders and sea critters? Did I make it too obvious, too unclear, or just right? Oh, and if you don't mind, let me know how I did overall:) Second writing piece, and it's an entry to my first contest... As I said in the theme above, my theme was the color blue, hence a scene of Vaughn drowning in the ocean and looking Chelsea in the eyes. I was kinda nervous - scratch that, majorly nervous - and a little feedback would be nice to receive. So, review if you want, whether it's to critique me and point out flaws, or actually say you love it, like it, etc. It's very much appreciated!**

**P.S. Don't worry, the next chapter of "Moments Of Vaughn" will be coming soon! I was pretty much devoting my time to doing homework and finishing this contest entry, so I didn't really get to start the next chapter. Well, there's that, and the fact that I had some troubly with a little disease called Writers' Block... -_-' BUT, thanks to swingdancer23, I've got many funny ideas in store for future chapters, so stay tuned!**

**P.P.S. Guess what? Before this, I only needed three words to qualify as a beta reader. Soooo... I'm gonna try it out! I'll do my best, and don't be a stranger; I'll beta for anyone, anytime. So far, my first client is the one and only, HersheyChocolates101! Check out her stories for me, will ya? I'm gonna try and give her story, "Harvest Rivalry", a little push (not that there's anything wrong with it, in my opinion) and a "make over", if that's what you wanna call it:) So let it be known that I, Penny ToughGirl, am officially in the "beta business"! Surprise to everyone who didn't see this coming;) Wooo hooo! ^u^**

**~Penny TG**


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